We started off the week by seeing if we could change the shape and the overall properties of wood. We rolled up our sleeves, got a piece of sandpaper and wood and got to work! Students were vigorously sanding away and noticing how different their piece of wood was starting to look and feel after it had been sanded. Students noticed that small pieces (seemingly looking like snow) were falling from their piece of wood and started collecting on their plate. What was this snow-like material? Small pieces of wood that have been sanded off and turned into sawdust!!! | |
What do we do with all that sawdust? Make particleboard of course! We know that not all types of wood are solid wood. We set out to investigate how we could make our own particleboard. We tried mixing sawdust and wood shavings with water, but found out that water was not strong enough to hold the pieces together. It did however make wood pulp!
Next step in making particleboard is GLUE! Before class, I made a special cornstarch matrix to act as the glue holding the sawdust and wood shavings together. We worked hard to mix it all together and make out own chunk of particleboard! We left if overnight to dry.